AN ATTEMPT OF COOPERATION IN GEOTECTONICS: HISTORY OF THE IGC COMMISSION “CRUST OF THE EARTH”

Since 1878 the International Geological Congress (IGC) has been supervising cooperation of geoscientists. Foundation of the geological survey (Geological Committee of Russia, 1882) ensured the participation of Russian representatives in the IGC commissions. At the beginning of the XX c. Russian standards in petrography and geophysics were in competition with achievements of European and American centers. Cooperation in laboratory studies and joint field works had begun.

But “the window to Russia” was not long opened. An attempt at international cooperation in tectonics occurred at this short term. Russians did not set the fashion in geological speculations, but the mission to combine efforts in geodynamics was taken by Dmitry I. Mushketov (1882-1938). His scientific reputation was acquired in Middle Asia. He headed the Mining Institute (1918-1927), was the founder and first director of the Institute for Applied Geophysics (1924-1930), and the director of the Geological Committee of Russia (1926-1929). D. Mushketov was open to new tectonic concepts and advocated a geophysical approach in geology. He communicated widely with colleagues traveling abroad. In 1928 D. Mushketov invited foreign geoscientists in Turkestan to continue talks in situ.

The Commission “Crust of the Earth” was founded at the 15^th IGC Session (1929). D. Mushketov was empowered to coordinate work before the next meeting and was elected the president in Washington, D.C. (16^th IGC, 1933). The four items of Mushketov’s program were discussed in the author’s absence, and A. Day, proposed to begin with compilation of the international tectonic lexicon. D. Mushketov was not involved in this work. His life tragically ended at the beginning of 1938.

The Commission “Crust of the Earth” was abolished at the 21^st IGC Session (1960). It took 45 years to put into practice the single point of Mushketov’s program. The International Tectonic Lexicon was published in 1979 (IGCP, Project 100).

The first tectonic commission of the IGC was founded at a time of confusion in theoretical tectonics and was terminated just before the new geological paradigm appeared. The IGC did not have enough will and power to organize joint works. Political events were changing boundaries and fortunes, and the time for international cooperation had not yet come, at least for Russia.